Pupils, staff and parents from Cheshire Academies Trust’s three schools – Kelsall Primary, Mill View Primary in Upton and Boughton Heath Academy have been busily working to design and produce a garden for the recent RHS Show at the local Tatton Park over the past year.

Each year, the school’s garden section at the prestigious show grows and this year was no exception. Linking with The Whitworth Gallery in Manchester, each school garden was based on an artist that has exhibited at the Whitworth.

The artist that was assigned to the CAT team was Anya Gallaccio. The pupils studied her work on the internet and quickly came up with a garden design that reflected the transient nature of Anya’s artwork and the recurring themes of life, death and renewal.

Linking to many curriculum areas, children at the three schools attended poetry workshops, gardening days and studied Anya’s work in class. On build up days at the show, the children worked hard to bring their designs to life – adding in plants grown from seed as well as using their own made compost to plant vegetables and sunflowers.

The final garden was shown over the course of the RHS show and was visited by the general public who chatted to pupils about the processes and themes behind the garden. The Anya Gallaccio garden was awarded an RHS ‘Highly Commended’ Award – the highest accolade awardable and also received the Whitworth Award for the garden that most reflected the style and themes of the artist in an imaginative and inspirational way.

After careful disassembly, the garden has been returned to Kelsall Primary where it will be rebuilt and added to as a quiet place to sit at playtimes.

Katie Hetherington, teacher at Mill View explained: “The children have developed many skills and knowledge through designing and developing the garden.

“It has been amazing to hear them talk so eloquently to the public about their garden. It’s also inspired staff at all the schools to think more about how we can add horticulture into our learning to inspire garden designers of the future.”